Business As Usual
by SuperKateB
Summary: While the cat's away, the mouse will play...and while Demando is away, Esmeraude will have entirely too much fun.


She watched idly as he transported from the control room,  
  
a frown crossing her delicate features as he disappeared from sight.  
  
This, she decided, would be the longest twenty-four hours  
  
of her life.  
  
===================  
  
"Business as Usual"  
  
A Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
  
===================  
  
Esmeraude was bored.  
  
It wasn't often that Esmeraude managed to bore herself so   
  
thoroughly that she stooped to the all-time low of wandering about  
  
the control room in her skirt and high heels, fanning herself idly  
  
with one hand and waving the other about in sheer, unending boredom.  
  
When push came to shove, actually, Esmeraude considered herself a   
  
fairly easily amused person. She enjoyed watching Demando sip his   
  
strange red-orange vintage of wine, for example, or watching him   
  
study the image of their target - that bratty, blonde queen of   
  
Crystal Tokyo - in the holograph for long hours at a time. She enjoyed  
  
watching him brush the hair from his gorgeous, dark eyes, and   
  
enjoyed witnessing the rare times when he stood to his magnificent  
  
full height long enough to stretch his long legs and sit back   
  
down. She enjoyed peering through the doorway on his private pow-wows  
  
with the Wiseman, even if she could make little-to-no sense of   
  
what exactly their conversations were about in the first place, and  
  
especially enjoyed watching as Demando, the prince of the Dark Moon  
  
and leader of their siege on the city of Crystal Tokyo, began to   
  
nod off in his enormous throne when he was convinced no one was  
  
looking. She was just not the type of person to be easily bored!  
  
Unfortunately, Demando had been called away earlier that   
  
morning on urgent business to one of the other large command ships,  
  
which left her unbearably, unmentionably, and undeniably BORED.  
  
"Mou," she groaned, collapsing onto the stone steps that led  
  
up to Demando's abandoned throne, her knees together as she cupped  
  
her chin in her hands and gazed off across the control room. Her   
  
complaint hung in the air, echoing away until it was nothing more   
  
than a distant whisper against stone. "Where IS everyone? Right about  
  
now, I'd even put up with SAFFIR!"  
  
Her pleading, however desperate, was also futile, and she   
  
sighed miserably. With Rubeus and the four strange sisters off   
  
Rabbit hunting in the twentieth century and Saffir out cavorting   
  
God-alone-knows-where with God-alone-knows-who - she had the oddest  
  
suspicion that boy was constantly up to no good, what with his   
  
constant lapses into virtues such as honesty and nobility - she   
  
felt oddly alone and abandoned, a feeling she had managed to avoid  
  
since the war with Crystal Tokyo had began, thanks to the efforts of  
  
their wonderful Prince Demando. And it was a feeling she really   
  
didn't like, especially since a lonesome Esmeraude happened to be a   
  
BORED Esmeraude and no one really needed one of THOSE, now did they?  
  
She frowned and leaned back, moving to stretch her long   
  
arms...and hitting stone with her knuckles. "Itai!" she screeched,  
  
jumping to her high heeled feet and spinning about to shoot Demando's  
  
throne a rather nasty glance. The mass of green stone, unsurprisingly,  
  
remained stagnant as she glowered at it, and she scowled further  
  
and crossed her arms, fan and all, over her chest. "Oh, what do you  
  
know, anyway? You're just Demando's stupid throne, anyway, you...  
  
stupid..."  
  
She froze in mid-sentence, her green eyes no longer lowered  
  
but rather wide and studious as she took a single, testing step   
  
towards the throne. This throne was Demando's sacred, favorite  
  
throne, the throne that he had polished daily and allowed no one  
  
other than himself near. The throne he spent a good eighteen hours  
  
of his day in, plotting, planning, and staring at the image of   
  
Neo-Queen Serenity in. The throne that he would undoubtedly be seated  
  
in when the Rabbit was captured and Crystal Tokyo fell into their  
  
hands.  
  
But more important than its future as a potential historical  
  
landmark, this was DEMANDO'S throne. The throne his attractive,   
  
shapely rear-end spent eighteen hours in every day... The throne he  
  
touched and embraced like he would any lover.  
  
And suddenly, Esmeraude was no longer bored.  
  
"I'm sorry, throne-san!" she apologized softly, her high   
  
heels clicking against the stone steps up to the throne as she  
  
spoke. She reached forward and slowly ran her fingers along the   
  
arm of the stone throne, smiling flirtatiously at it. Her long  
  
eyelashes batted as she slid slowly into the seat, reveling in the  
  
feeling of the cool stone against her long legs. "I didn't mean it,  
  
and you know I didn't. Forgive me?" She crossed her legs and   
  
leaned back, smiling. "I'm so glad."  
  
Now comfortable in the throne, she managed to put on her   
  
most devious, determined expression, one she had often seen crossing  
  
Demando's attractive features. "Rubeus," she commanded in a low  
  
voice, "find the Rabbit or I will exterminate you." The tone of  
  
her voice, gravelly in the back of her throat, made her chuckle  
  
and she tossed her head. "I'll make a wonderful queen!" she decided.  
  
"I already have the commanding voice down!"  
  
Sliding sideways, she kicked her long legs over one arm of   
  
the throne and leaned her back far over the other, her pale green  
  
curls sweeping against the floor as she opened her fan and shyly  
  
covered her face with it. "Nani yo, Demando-sama?" she questioned,  
  
batting her eyelashes into the emptiness in front of her. "You   
  
want to take me right here on your throne? But what of Saffir?"  
  
She fanned her face lightly. "You don't care if he sees? Oh, you  
  
daring man!"  
  
Her chuckle became a full-out laugh as she hopped onto the  
  
seat of throne and placed her hands on her hips, her expression now  
  
one of a strong-willed, determined matriarch of a household. "Clean  
  
faster, imbeciles!" she commanded, pointing invisible maids in   
  
the direction of invisible laundry and dirty dishes. "Your lives  
  
are forfeit if you don't do my bidding!"  
  
She guffawed loudly, her laughter echoing across the empty  
  
room and bouncing off crystal and rock into the air. "When I am   
  
queen of the dark moon, I will sit in this throne and ponder all the  
  
important questions of the world," she stated plainly, sinking down  
  
into her chair, her feet against the back of the throne while her head  
  
lulled off the seat and allowed her to view the control room   
  
upside down. "Here, I will plan how to decorate our bedroom, what  
  
new planets to take over, and...and...what to make for dinner!" She  
  
laughed again, her head thrown back and eyes arching shut. "I shall  
  
rule the world from this throne! Ahahahahahaha! AHahahahahaha!  
  
AHAHAHA - "  
  
"Esmeraude, what on Earth are you doing?"  
  
Green eyes flew open to reveal Saffir, his arms crossed over  
  
his navy blue uniform jacket as he stood on the ceiling, glowering  
  
down at her. Esmeraude felt her face turn bright pink as she   
  
scrambled to sit up properly and, after three unsuccessful attempts,  
  
failed, falling out of the throne with all the grace and dignity of  
  
a toddler. "I can explain!" she announced loudly, scrambling to her   
  
feet and readjusting her short skirt as she did. "Really!"  
  
"You can?" questioned Demando's brother and second-in-command,  
  
his eyebrows arching as he stared at the blushing, frantic Dark  
  
Moon executive. "Because, from here, it looks like you were playing   
  
in onii-san's throne, and you know how he feels about that throne.  
  
However, if this is not the case, enlighten me. I would love to   
  
hear a more rational explanation."  
  
Esmeraude froze as Saffir finished his lengthy verbal essay  
  
on her behavior, her mind reeling for a likely excuse for what she  
  
was really doing. After all, Demando was, as his brother had   
  
suggested, very...peculiar...about other people sitting in his throne.  
  
Admitting to his little snitch of a brother that she was, indeed,  
  
playing in the nigh-sacred seat would undoubtedly land her as a   
  
scullery cook in some unimportant medic ship...if she was allowed to  
  
live to tell the tale, at all. No, Saffir's sudden, unexpected   
  
appearance had thrown her, face first, between the proverbial rock and  
  
hard place, only in this case the hard place was a glowering prince  
  
and the rock was green and shaped into a throne.  
  
Her mental rolodex for possible excuses flipping to its final   
  
entry and coming up blank, she tore open the filing cabinet for   
  
actions to take and began furiously flipping through the folders   
  
within. Fighting Saffir tooth-and-nail would do no good, considering  
  
the fact that Saffir was not only much stronger than her, but that   
  
either of their deaths would take a lot of in-depth explaining when  
  
Demando returned the next day. Running away solved nothing - Saffir  
  
would still rat her out - and lying meant nothing when she didn't  
  
have a good lie. No, desperate times called for desperate measures,  
  
and it was high time she showed just how desperate a woman she was.  
  
She closed the file cabinet in her mind, the "blackmail"   
  
file firmly gripped in her hand.  
  
"Saffir-sama," she cooed, striding down the steps to stand  
  
face-to-face with the younger prince, "I just don't think you want  
  
to tell your brother about this when he comes back."  
  
Navy blue eyes blinked at her, nonplussed. "Oh, really?" he  
  
questioned dubiously, eyebrows raised and expression devoid of any  
  
and all emotion. "And why, pray tell, is this?"  
  
Placing one hand on his shoulder, Esmeraude gave it a slight  
  
squeeze, glad she had her glove and his shirt between the layer of  
  
slime she was convinced dripped from the brat's every pore. "Because,  
  
my dear Saffir, I happen to... To..."  
  
She hesitated a moment. Blackmail was all well and good, but  
  
only when you had material to work with. Saffir, the little snake,  
  
kept his private life as far from the office as humanly possible, and  
  
she knew absolutely nothing about his personal affairs other than the  
  
steamy little affair he'd had with Petz a few months earlier. Time,  
  
she decided, to make something up.  
  
"To?" he prompted, staring.  
  
"...to know about that time that you and Petz... Well...  
  
You know." She nodded her head towards the throne subtly and smirked,  
  
as though they were sharing a very intimate, personal secret. "There  
  
are ears just everywhere in this room. Do you REALLY want me to   
  
spell out exactly what it is I know?"  
  
Saffir, who was by all accounts of a rather pale complexion  
  
naturally, paled even further as he glanced over the green-haired   
  
woman and at the abandoned stone throne. His Adam's apple bobbed as  
  
he swallowed audibly. "You... You know about that?" he hissed   
  
through clenched teeth, meeting her gaze incredulous.  
  
Esmeraude resisted the urge to shudder and shout "ew!" from  
  
the rooftops before running away and burning her dress for touching  
  
the very stone where the miserable leech of a prince had... She   
  
smiled and regained her composure, patting his shoulder lightly. "Of   
  
course, Saffir-sama," she replied quietly, running her fingers down   
  
his chest before allowing her hand to return to her side. A flick of   
  
her wrist later, her fan covered half her face. "So, shall we pretend   
  
today's festivities just... Never happened?"  
  
He frowned, nodded, and then disappeared before she could say  
  
anything more.  
  
And she, triumphant, smirked and enjoyed her victory for a   
  
full ten minutes before rushing off to her chambers to peal off her  
  
clothes and take a nice, long, soul-cleansing bath.  
  
===  
  
Demando returned early the next morning, just as promised,  
  
his long legs crossed at the knee and glass of wine already in his  
  
hand when his two subordinates reported to the control room, Saffir  
  
clothed in his normal uniform while Esmeraude was garbed in the   
  
black dress and red denim jacket she normally wore to go poke around  
  
Tokyo. Her normal clothing, she was ready to explain when and if her  
  
leader asked, was simply in the wash.  
  
Her leader, however, did not ask about her garb or much   
  
else as he took a sip of wine, smiled, and leaned back in his throne.  
  
"I hope you two were able to function without me here," he addressed  
  
the duo, his dark eyes flitting from his brother to the young woman  
  
and back to his brother again. "Tell me, did anything worth talking  
  
about happen while I was away?"  
  
Esmeraude glanced at Saffir.  
  
Saffir glanced at Esmeraude.  
  
"No, nothing at all," they answered simultaneously, and   
  
business in the Dark Moon continued, thankfully, as usual.  
  
===  
  
Fin.  
  
Author's notes: I've been watching too much SMR. This, my friends, is  
  
what happens when I watch too much SMR. Just some Dark Moon fun for  
  
you all. Hee hee hee. I can just see Esmeraude, upside-down in  
  
Demando's throne, wide-eyed and staring at Saffir as he looms over  
  
her. Good times.  
  
Thanks to Yume and May, yadda yadda, you know the routine.  
  
May 30, 2004  
  
2:25 a.m. 


End file.
